As part of the Health System Research Fund, OTRU’s Research on E-Cigarettes and Waterpipe (RECIG-WP) grant has established a Youth and Young Adult Panel Study to help understand what happens over time to young people who vape. In March 2018, 1049 Canadian youth and young adults were recruited from social media and a recontact list from the Leave the Pack Behind initiative. Study participants are being contacted over eighteen months. By design, almost 60% of respondents were regular vapers (those vaping at least weekly in the past four weeks); 26% were non-regular vapers and 17% were never vapers. At baseline, 88% of Canadian youth and young adults reported social exposure to vaping in the past 7 days, with regular vapers more frequently exposed than non-regular vapers. Regular vapers were also more likely to be current cigarette smokers, and use cannabis, alcohol and waterpipe. Longitudinal data will soon begin to provide a picture of how regular and non-regular young vapers progress over time

About OTRU

The Ontario Tobacco Research Unit (OTRU) is a Canadian leader in tobacco control research, monitoring and evaluation, teaching and training, and is a respected source of science-based information on tobacco control. We also apply our skills to other areas of public health.